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The pressure on Weid perhaps comes about because he was a number 9 pick. At that level the player is expected to contribute to the senior team within a year. This includes talls. Look at Moore and Daniher. Similarly look at the pressure on McCartin.

If he had been a pick 40 development player the debate today would have a different tone. Football has changed and the need to get a player from a team's first round pick is essential.

I haven't written him off but this is the year where we need to see repeated signs. As an aside longer term you have to wonder if he has a role to play in the modern game even if he develops in the classic FF mode. That role seems to be going the same way as the ruckman

Pressure, as you call it, is certainly not coming from within the Club, it's supporters, media etc

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Im not convinced. Has shown very little in the few games ive seen him play live. No physical presence and little 2nd efforts.

Hope to be wrong and he works out well, but if he is match fit and isnt pushing for selection now, then when?

Has to step up.

Exactly, he's 20 and hasn't shown the talent yet to win a game off his own boot. Who cares about all his injuries and interrupted pre seasons, we want stars, nothing less will do.

The season, for us, hasn't started yet and we have a side that appears capable of playing finals football this year but who cares about that, let's rip in to a kid who hasn't been given the chance to prove himself.

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Exactly, he's 20 and hasn't shown the talent yet to win a game off his own boot. Who cares about all his injuries and interrupted pre seasons, we want stars, nothing less will do.

The season, for us, hasn't started yet and we have a side that appears capable of playing finals football this year but who cares about that, let's rip in to a kid who hasn't been given the chance to prove himself.

Unbelievable.

no... you miss the point

Both last year and this we have suffered key injuries which should have given a chance to several fringe players.

No one was expecting him to star either last year or this but the fact that he is not considered capable of filling a short term gap is as Dr G just said ... "underwhelming".

And don't say he isn't getting a run this time because he lacked a pre-season. He wouldn't have been considered anyway.

Lists require analysis and this is what we are entitled to do as followers of the team. Just accepting the mediocrity of the last fifty years got us to where we are.

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I've certainly been critical of the club playing the Weid over other players at times last year, when I didn't see him as being anything like ready and it costing us games. Still think we would have beaten Geelong and Richmond last year if Pedersen had played instead of the Weid. That said, it's more a criticism of our coaching and selection than anything directed at Weiderman so much.

Like most big guys, I think this guy needs time to develop and establish his game. Tom Hawkins is the classic, but the more recient example I can think of is Tim O'Brian for Hawthorn. When we played Hawthorn for the first time in 2016, I thought O'Brain looked like a passenger in their side, failing to make much of an impact (ironically, asides from one late goal which helped sink us that day), but watching him last year, I think he started to look much more imposing as a player and gave me the impression (from the limited exposure I've had to him) that he looked like he might have a good future as an AFL player. O'Brain is 3 years older and longer in the system than Weid.

If we can pick up guys with gammy hamstrings from GWS and keep them on our list for a few years on the basis of potential, then I think it's well worth continued perseverance and patience with the Weid.

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In hindsight there have been a lot of draftees I wish the club had taken, but I don't see Weideman as a mistake.

As others have said, on draft night Weideman was deemed the potential steal of the draft.

That year he endured injury-induced setback after setback, but when he played he was spectacular. For example, he convincingly beat the number one defender of his cohort, Aaron Francis (went pick #6), when they went head-to-head. He also was one of the best on ground players when he played a half of football against a VFL side. Finally, he had premiership captain next to his name from the year prior.

Yes, Curnow looked sensational last night, and yes, I would like him at the Dees. But at the time of the draft he had just been arrested for drink driving and subsequently refusing to perform a breath test. He came across as a bad-boy, a meat-head, whatever you want to call him. The club obviously questioned his ability to commit to being a full-time professional athlete. Yes, we chose the "nice guy" who had, and still has, great potential. Sure, we could have selected the "mongrel", however, based on the facts available at the time that "mongrel" may potentially damage the culture of the club or have off-field issues such as Dayle Garlett or Jake Stringer.

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I hope he has a good start to the year as we are going to need him with Tommy Mac going down.

I don't have the faith in Pedders that others have. I think he is a good running ruck but struggles as a key forward.

A lot will rest on Trac, Hannan and Fritsch to cover the loss of McDonald.

Have great faith in Pedo, he crunches packs like few of our other players do. I actually think he is a better pack mark than Hogan at this stage.

Still I get your point about him seeming to perform better when given ruck duties. In this regard, I think the team should actually be looking to use that to best effect in the circumstances. I see a huge potential for Gawn to be targeted by opposition rucks this year, so I think it would be more than handy for Pedo to come in and give Gawn a bit of a chop out and take some of the pressure off him at times. Will keep the oppositions resting ruck more honest and possibly also mean that they will need to keep their main ruck on Pedo at times. Gawn can be pretty handy resting and drifting into the forwardline in his own right.

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Yeah Weideman at 9, 4 picks before Curnow was a shocker. You get that one right and we are on our way. You'd just love to know how keen we were before the drink driving thing, which was probably setup by Carlton.

Match Previews, Reports & Articles

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Big Demon says:
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